


you can read me anything

by crookedspoon



Series: Exchange Fics [59]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Domestic, Established Relationship, Gift Fic, Inspired by Music, M/M, POV Dick Grayson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:34:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21539842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crookedspoon/pseuds/crookedspoon
Summary: Happiness.
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd
Series: Exchange Fics [59]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/51139
Comments: 16
Kudos: 90
Collections: 300bpm Flash Exchange November 2019





	you can read me anything

**Author's Note:**

  * For [snowshus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowshus/gifts).



> Title and inspiration from the prompted song "The Book of Love" by The Magnetic Fields.
> 
> Many thanks to stevie for the beta!
> 
> Fair warning, they talk about marriage in this. If that's too schmoopy for you, now's your chance to back out.

Happiness is walking into the living room to find your boyfriend relaxed and reading, back pressed into the sofa. Although Dick approaches on silent feet, Jason looks up and adjusts his reading glasses. He does that thing with his mouth that's almost a smile and Dick's heart does a little hop and a skip and a backflip for good measure. He smiles back, less mistakable, because the only way he knows how to smile is with his entire being.

He leans precariously over the sofa to kiss Jason; his face was turned up to Dick's invitingly, and Dick never passes up the chance to make out with Jason. His lips are too kissable for that, plush and smooth and slotting so perfectly against his. Dick melts with every gentle flick of Jason's clever tongue, and eventually he's slipping over the back of the sofa, trying to keep their lips together until gravity pulls them apart and Dick's head lands on Jason's thigh.

"Hey." Dick smiles up softly, content just to lie there and soak up Jason's presence.

"Hey there yourself," Jason says, brushing his thumb over Dick's cheek. His book is propped against the armrest, Jason's index finger marking the page, the pull of whatever he's been reading about to be forgotten.

"Don't stop on my account." Dick closes his eyes, kisses Jason's palm, and weaves their fingers together.

"I can continue later," Jason says as his reading glasses begin the inevitable descent down the bridge of his nose. It gives Jason the appearance of a stern (and sexy) librarian. 

"You can continue now. I don't mind. In fact, why don't you read to me?"

"I'm in the middle of a chapter."

"That's fine. Just read to me."

Jason huffs and pushes his glasses back up. "Fine. If you insist."

Dick settles in to let Jason's voice wash over him. It's an experience, like a real life audio drama. Jason reads expressively, with a different pitch for every character, the cadence of his voice rising and falling to underline the meaning of each sentence.

It should be hilarious to hear the normally flat-voiced Red Hood imbue his characters with so much emotion, but it's not. Jason is a drama queen at heart and not above playing situations for effect. This is by far a better outlet for his thespian tendencies.

"Have I ever told you that you have a nice voice?" Dick murmurs when Jason reaches the end of the chapter. "I'd listen to you narrate the entire phonebook."

"You can't really _narrate_ the phonebook, you know," Jason has to nitpick, ever the nerd. 

Perhaps Dick should have said 'dictionary' instead – Jason would get a kick out of that. Except, he'd also expect Dick to remember all the different meanings of the words he read to Dick. Dick prefers sequences of numbers. They're soothing, and Jason is less likely to quiz him on the landline of one Aaronofsky, Stephen than he is on the thirty-two different denotations of the word "take." (Dick doesn't actually know the exact number, he just knows it's a lot. And new ones still get described! You'd think they'd have found them all by now.)

"I'm sure you'll find a way." Dick yawns and curls up against Jason. "All I'm saying is that I would listen to you do it."

"You, listening to me? That's a new one."

"Don't be an ass, Jason," Dick says and pinches the back of Jason's knee. "Try and take a compliment for once."

* * *

Happiness is walking into the kitchen to find your boyfriend singing musical numbers while he's cooking. Between the delicious smell of coconut and Jason's rich baritone, Dick doesn't know what's better. A feast for the nose _and_ the ears. (And the eyes, because Jason being relaxed enough to sing in the first place has got to be the best thing about this scene.)

 _"Christine, Christine,"_ Dick chimes in as he wraps his arms around Jason, _"where in the world have you been hiding? Really, you were perfect."_

"I was already at the reprise of _All I Ask of You,_ " Jason points out before he kisses Dick.

"Mh, excellent," Dick replies with a smile. "Then all I ask of _you_ is that we skip ahead to _Masquerade._ "

It's a bit of an effort to let go of Jason so soon, but Dick manages to step back and display his most graceful bow, bending at the hips and extending his right hand.

"Would you do me the honor of this dance?" he asks, hopeful grin turned toward Jason, who fails at suppressing his own grin when he takes Dick's hand – while turning down the hot plates with the other, because that's the kind of conscientious guy he is. Always thinking of everything.

The long hours they have both spent on the dance floors of charity events and other important functions entertaining heiresses and entrepreneurs alike pay off as they fall into step almost immediately. Warmth blossoms throughout Dick's body, the way it always does when Jason lets him take the lead.

It's a gesture of trust, of ceding, of not making this about their egos. Although Jason would no doubt claim he only does it to spare Dick the embarrassment because – to hear Jason say it – Dick would botch it up three steps into the dance. Apparently the figurative use of the word "flexible" that is so often attributed to him does not apply here. (See, Dick can pay attention to meanings, too.)

They twirl around the kitchen to the sizzling in the frying pan and the bubbling of water, working up an appetite – for Jason's cooking and for each other.

* * *

Happiness, at its core, is being with Jason. Dick can no longer imagine life without him by his side. If there is such a thing as life without Jason, it's none worth living.

"You should propose to me," he says one night, curled against Jason and listening to his heart calm down from their recent bout of lovemaking. It picks up again once those words are out of Dick's mouth.

"So you can dash my hopes by saying no?" Jason snorts. "That's cruel even for you."

"I'm serious," Dick says, feeling his own heart rate speed up. "Why would I say no if I suggested you do it?"

"To live out that sadistic streak of yours, I don't know. People do weird shit all the time. You wouldn't be the first."

"You're paranoid, Jason."

"If you're so serious, why don't you propose yourself?" Jason asks and taps his knuckles against Dick's ribs in the approximation of a gentle punch.

"You mean now?" Dick asks, surprise flooding his cheeks with heat.

"Not now, you idiot. I don't want you proposing just to prove you can."

Dick lets a beat pass before he says, evenly, "But you want me to propose."

Jason, likewise, waits a beat, but he sounds like he's swallowed his tongue in the meantime. "...I didn't say that."

"No, of course you didn't."

Giddiness stirs inside Dick, like the excitement of organizing a new project, one that is going to cement the course of his life. It's momentous.

Dick is buzzing quietly, stroking restless fingers over Jason's cooling skin, trying hard not to let his eagerness show.

"I want it to be romantic," Jason mutters eventually and Dick can barely make out the words over the pounding of his heart. "I'm just saying. If you're ever thinking of going through with it, it doesn't have to be anything special or big, but I do expect a little romance, okay? No stumbling into it because you think now is as good a time as any."

"But if I've made the decision to ask you, isn't any time as good as any other?"

"If that's your take, I can already tell you what my answer is going to be." Jason pulls a strand of Dick's hair for emphasis.

"Romance, got it," Dick yields and swats at Jason's hand, then grabs his wrist and drapes his arm around him. Jason squeezes him once, and Dick's heart settles into a strong, steady beat. He's still too excited to sleep any time soon, though. "Read to me?"

"Can't you just count sheep like a normal person."

"Normal people read to each other, too."

"Yeah, but in general they only read bedtime stories to children."

"You can view it as practice," Dick says hopefully.

"What?"

"What?"

"You didn't just suggest what I think you suggested," Jason says, suspicion broad in every syllable. "I'm not having that conversation with you, too."

"Good, because I don't want to have that conversation," Dick murmurs against Jason's chest. Perhaps he shouldn't drop so many hints in one night. "I just want you to read to me."

Jason relaxes again and leaps at the chance to get away from a topic he has no interest in discussing yet. "What do you want me to read?"

"I don't know, the address book in your phone?"

"I have the entire internet at my fingertips and you want me to read you my contact list?" Jason asks but picks up his phone anyway. "I get that you're being cute, but that's a bit on the nose if you want to start stalking me. The least you could do is try and hack my phone. You know, put some effort into it."

"Jason. Just read me something. It could be your Christmas wish list for all I care."

"That's actually not a bad idea," Jason muses. "If I read it to you every night in your sleep, maybe you'll feel compelled to get me something that's actually on it instead of a random last minute gift you only picked because the holiday season for some reason surprises you every year."

"I have a better idea," Dick ignores the jab at his lack of foresight and planning where gifts are concerned. "If you're smart, you could read me examples of proposals you find romantic. Just to give me some ideas, you know."

"And do all the work for you?" Jason snorts. "I say it again, a little effort on your part would be nice."

"Romance, effort," Dick yawns. "Anything else while I'm still awake?"

"I'll make you a list."

"Perfect."

In the end, Jason reads him the story of the youth who went forth to know what fear was. The conclusion gives Dick the shivers, too, and he's glad to be snug and warm in bed with Jason. It's a fitting reminder that you don't always have to go out of your way to achieve your goals, that sometimes the answer is closer than you think.

Dick will keep that in mind for the next time he inevitably thinks about leveling up the official status of their relationship, because when it comes down to it, it doesn't matter who proposes to whom when or how. All that matters is this: finding a sliver of peace with each other in the midst of their turbulent lives, a sliver of certainty in these uncertain times.

That is what happiness is to him.


End file.
